Inspired by the bars, lounges, and restaurants of downtown Manhattan, Fourteen Railroad opened its doors in Warwick, in December 2020. The business is located just 90 minutes away from New York City, in the heart of the Hudson Valley, surrounded by farmland and mountains. It’s an environment that takes a lot of influence from Italy and its respect for food.
Fourteen Railroad sources local ingredients and buys local produce from Warwick’s small markets. The restaurant successfully brings the ambiance of the city to this village of 6,700.
Owners Stefano Salvemini, originally from Bari, Apulia, and Damien Georges, an Aussie who lived in Japan, are veterans in the food business. Salvemini also runs an Italian food importing company that focuses on products from Puglia, Vemini, while Georges’ family-owned three renowned French restaurants in Melbourne.
Fourteen Railroad in Warwick, in New York's Hudson Valley.
At Fourteen Railroad, they’ve hired a pair of young chefs, Tyler Knight and Kyle Morgan, who draw on their northeastern roots in creating the Italian and Mediterranean dishes. Mozzarella and burrata are housemade, as is the pizza dough. Lisa Georges, a native of Boston and Damien's wife, serves as pastry chef.
The delicious, thin-crust pizzas at Fourteen Railroad bake in a Neapolitan half-dome, wood-fired oven at 800°F in just 75 seconds. The seasonal menu offers a pan-Mediterranean menu of small plates including salmon skewers and steak tartar. There’s always pasta on the menu, with cacio e pepe emerging as an early favorite. And then the rest of the menu is fun and varied, with spicy pizza diavola, housemade focaccia, and a filet au poivre that’s another standout.
Bar manager Mitchell Kiff offers a mostly Old World wine list and a cocktail menu with drinks named after 1990s Australian rock songs. Highway To Hell, named for AC/DC’s classic hit, is made with rye, two types of bitters, agave, and orange zest.
It’s all part of the vibrant personality of this new village restaurant, an eclectic mash-up of Mediterranean flavors, Hudson Valley and Italian ingredients, and nods to Damien Georges’ Australian and French heritage.